Route to Certification

Individuals may apply for certification directly to The Open Group, where the Certification Authority will review all applications and an Open CA Board will interview the candidates.

Organizations may apply to have their internal staff development certification programs accredited by The Open Group. Individuals who are certified through an Accredited Certification Program (ACP) provider may become Open Group certified too.

You submit your certification package to the Certification Authority and if for any reason the submission was not complete, you will be notified within ten (10) business days so that any corrections can be made and resubmitted. Then a Board member will review your package and advise you of any improvements that you may want to make.

Once the Certification Authority has accepted your certification package, it will be passed to three Certification Board members for review. Each Board member will read the package and prepare for a one-hour interview. For levels 2 and 3, the interviews are held face-to-face, usually at one of The Open Group quarterly conferences, or through our local partner offices. Interviews can also take place at an organization’s site and The Open Group will provide Board members to facilitate this.

Interviews for the initial Boards are normally organized about six (6) weeks after the package has been submitted. For Level 1, there are still three one-hour interviews, but these are conducted by telephone.

After the interviews, the Board will decide whether you have achieved Open CA status, and candidates will be notified within ten (10) working days.

The cost of each Open CA certification is $1,250 USD, with an annual renewal fee of $175 USD.